ALBANY – Initial proceedings in a lawsuit filed by New York Regional Interconnect Inc. claiming the power line developer has been discriminated against by the state will continue in September, an operator at the U.S. District Court in Albany confirmed Tuesday.
NYRI is challenging an amendment to state law that currently denies it the authority to condemn private property to make room for its 190-mile-long power line using eminent domain.
A northern district court employee said a telephone conference between the parties involved is scheduled for Sept. 10, but would not elaborate on its purpose or the dates and times of future proceedings. She said a pre-trial hearing was held June 6.
“We have not heard any update from anyone as to where that lawsuit stands and where it is headed,” said Duncan Davey, spokesman for state Senator James Seward (R-Milford), one of the law’s sponsors who was named in the suit.
Aside from Seward, the suit names 11 other current and former state officials, including current Governor Eliot Spitzer, Tom Libous (R- Binghamton), and former governor George Pataki, who signed the bill into law Oct. 3, 2006. The Attorney General’s Office is defending the state in the suit. That office did not return messages seeking comment by press time.
NYRI filed the challenge in February. Company representatives did not return messages requesting comment.
However, in a February 2007 press release, NYRI attorney Leonard Singer states that the company’s 14th amendment rights, among others, have been violated.
“It’s unconstitutional for the legislature to pass a law that targets one person or company or singles them out for different treatment,” said Singer, of the Couch/White law firm in Albany. “The ramifications of this new law go far beyond NYRI. The new law has a chilling effect on economic development and investment in the State, creating a negative impact on New Yorkers for years to come if we don’t act now to invalidate it.”
Davey said Seward is confident the legislation will hold up in court.
“The Senator feels confident,” he said. “The legislation passed by a pretty wide margin in both the Senate and Assembly and was signed into law by Governor Pataki, and he’s confident it will stand up. If it does not, Senator Seward will take a lead role with Senator Libous to craft legislation that will address this same type of thing (power line).”
A spokesman for Senator Libous said the office has not heard any update on the lawsuit, but did pass along a message from Libous saying his stance against NYRI has not changed or weakened.
Davey issued a similar message.
“He will continue to do whatever he can to make sure the power line does not go through,” he said.
NYRI, a Canadian subsidiary company based in Albany, is proposing to transport “surplus” electricity from Utica energy congested areas downstate by way of a high voltage power line. The $1.6 billion line would split six townships and two villages as it passes through 44 miles of Chenango County. Thousands have come out along the route fearing the power line, with 115 foot steel towers, would ruin local economies, pose health risks, destroy scenic views and alter the natural environment.
NYRI officials are offering $30 million in a host community fund. However, officials have admitted the project would raise wholesale utility rates upstate by $166 million in the first year of its existence. Singer also admitted that he wasn’t sure if the project was for private or public good.
The law being challenged, which amended 100 year-old transportation corporation laws, takes away eminent domain rights from companies whose:
• Project begins and ends in New York State.
• Representatives have testified that the project will raise electricity rates in other parts of New York state.
• Project applied, and did not receive, an early designation as a National Interest Electricity Transmission Corridor from the U.S. Department of Energy.